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Sunday, February 5, 2012

Review: The Hellion and the Highlander by Lynsay Sands (5 stars, historical)

Thoughts After Reading:
I already sang Sands' praises in the last post, so let's move right to the book (I had to read one more of her novels). The romance setup in Sands' The Hellion and the Highlander was even better than usual, because the protagonists voluntarily chose to marry each other for a change (it makes the ensuing romance more realistic).

The hero and the heroine's brother have been imprisoned for the last three years, during their time fighting abroad. The heroine has been nursing the hero back to health, and has taken to talking to the hero's unconscious form. She has become somewhat disenchanted with her life before the hero shows up, because none of the men her father brings to meet her seem interested. Instead, they provide derogatory comments - especially about her red hair and birthmark - which cause the heroine to lose much of self-esteem regarding her looks. She also tends to stutter when nervous, but doesn't with the hero because she's gotten comfortable with him and doesn't think he can see her clearly. The hero can't imagine why the heroine hasn't been married, because he finds her beautiful and extremely kind. He worries that she might be too sweet to handle the hardships involved with being his wife, but it is soon shown to the hero that she can have feisty side as well :). The couple gets married, and the story continues with the typical Sands' plot of them deepening their relationship while dealing with someone trying to murder the hero. The book is also filled with a great deal of humor, as one always hopes with a novel by Sands. For example, the hero finds that the heroine tends to stop stuttering whenever he kisses her. So he does so - frequently ;). Another running joke is that, after the wedding night, the couple are always interrupted or something comes up when they try to make love. The one thing I didn't really like was the dark character of one of the brothers when drunk, although he gets his just rewards before the end of the story.

In short, another epic romance by Lynsay Sands - one filled with an excellent story and even better humor.

2 comments:

I totally agree, this trilogy was a favourite, did you read the first one Devil of the Highlands?

Re your previous comment, I did like the first two Madison Sister books, the second does overlap the first book a lot, about two thirds, and is only retold from Susanna's POV until the last third when it's the conclusion of her HEA. So I do understand people's complaints but I did still like it and am looking forward to Lisa's story. I loved Love is Blind too, another very funny story.

I've been on an Amanda Quick kick this week, not the paranormals, and I've enjoyed the ones I've read so far.